Proposed Shift of Indian Education From E.D. Raises Concerns

Washington--All Indian-education programs now housed in the U.S.
Department of Education would be transferred to the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (bia) under the Administration's 1983 budget proposal,
according to an Administration source.

Two Major Systems

But such a proposal must be passed by Congress, and several people
involved in Indian education warned that the matter is far from
settled. Currently, there are two major systems in the federal
bureaucracy that share responsibility for Indian education.

The oldest is the bia, established in 1836, which operates schools
for approximately 30 percent of the "federally recognized" Indian
children.

"Federally recognized" is the term the government uses to describe
tribes with which it has entered into a "government-to-government"
relationship through treaty, trust agreement, executive order, or court
action.

Last year, according to a spokesman, the bureau spent $159 million
serving 42,000 elementary- and secondary-school students.

The office of Indian education in the U.S. Education Department was
established with the passage of the Indian Education Act (PL
92-318,Title IV) in 1972, as part of what was then the education office
of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Last year, the office spent approximately $74 million serving
300,000 elementary- and secondary-school students.

An official in the office estimates that there are 180,000 Indian
students in the public schools who are also eligible for bia funding
under the 1934 Johnson-O'Malley Act, which provides money to Indian
students who are in public schools on or near reservations.

The Administration's proposal would send the Indian-education
office's functions to the bureau as part of its dismantling of the
Education Department, with a fiscal 1983 budget reduction to $51
million for all Indian- education programs in the bureau.

William L. Leap, education coordinator for the National Congress of
American Indians (ncai), warned against looking at this proposal as the
final word on the matter.

"I am very concerned about the amount of political football that is
being made out of the transfer of the office of Indian education," he
said.

'Manipulating People'

"There are a lot of people who are manipulating people by claiming
to know things and spreading rumors," according to Mr. Leap. "In order
for Title IV to be transferred, there must be legislation, Congress
must approve it, and to date, no such legislation has been sent to the
Congress. It seems unwise to conclude that Title IV is being
transferred when the basic mechanism for transferring it has yet to be
made public."

Mr. Leap's organization is the largest advocacy group for Indians in
the country, representing 170 tribes.

Frank A. Ryan, director of Indian-education programs in the
Education Department, said he had not seen the proposal, but "if it
turns out that's what the Administration is going to do, I support the
Administration. As far as I know, this would just change the locus," he
said.

'Totally Tentative'

Joann S. Morris, an educational-policy fellow at the department,
noted that the plan is "totally tentative, and dependent on
Congress."

"Secretary [of Education Terrel H.] Bell has assured the staff that
he wants to keep Indian-education functions within the department," she
added. "It would be disastrous to send them to bia They're not
accustomed to running programs off the reservation."

Gabe Paxton, acting director of the office of Indian education
programs in the Department of Interior, was not available for
comment.

The proposed transfer of the Title IV functions to the bia was
listed as one of the major concerns of a group of Indian educators who
gathered here recently for an "emergency meeting" on the status of
Indian-education programs in the federal government.

Educators Discuss Future

Some 80 Indian educators, including representatives from the
education-concerns committee of the ncai, the National Indian Education
Association, the National Adult Indian Education Association, the
American Indian Head Start Directors' Association, and the American
Indian Higher Education Consortium, came to Washington to discuss what
the future holds.

They also visited individual congressmen and senators to remind them
of what the groups say is the government's "trust responsibility" to
Indian education, stated in the Federal Code of Regulations and based
on treaties and court actions.

Partially as a result of lobbying that occurred during the Indians'
meeting last month, committees in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives have scheduled oversight hearings to examine the status
of federally budgeted Indian programs, including education
programs.

The Indians also received encouraging news on another of their
concerns--implementation of education block grants. Indian tribes want
2 percent of the block-grant funds to come directly to them without
handling by state education departments or local education
agencies.

Open to Suggestions

Such a system was originally included in the Education Department's
block-grants proposal, they point out. During their meetings, the
Indians heard from Robert B. Carleson, special assistant to the
President for policy development, that the Administration is open to
suggestions from the Indian tribes regarding "how tribes or
reservations could be involved in a block-granting process."

"I asked them for advice on how this could be done," he said in a
later interview. "Keeping in mind that in some instances it's not
convenient for them to go through state and local governments."

In response, said Mr. Leap of ncai, the education-concerns committee
"will by the end of the month draft a set of block-grants guidelines
which will be sent to the White House."

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